#tillwefindourplace - Emma Richey

"I am where I am supposed to be." The Enchantress, p.395

To an outsider, it looks like nobody is where they are supposed to be. Sophie and Josh Newman are [spoiler] on Danu Talis [/spoiler], which is already confusing enough without the fact that [spoiler] they're with their parents, who aren't human and might not even be their parents [/spoiler]. Virginia Dare and John Dee [spoiler] are also on Danu Talis [/spoiler], which originally makes sense since [spoiler] Dee was the one who brought the twins to Danu Talis in the first place [/spoiler], but now things are just getting weird, because [spoiler] Dee is old and Virginia Dare is leading an uprising [/spoiler]. Nicholas Flamel and Perenelle are making their way toward Alcatraz, which, if you think about the fact that [spoiler] the place is brimful with monsters waiting to wreak havoc on San Francisco [/spoiler], makes sense...but the fact that [spoiler] they're not only collaborating with friends Niten and Prometheus, but also a handful of Elders and immortals whose guts they normally hate [/spoiler] sort of messes with everybody's heads. Scatty, Joan, Saint-Germain, Palamedes, and Shakespeare are probably the closest to be where they're supposed to be, if you count being [spoiler] 10,000 years back in time on Danu Talis so you can help destroy the world/save the world [/spoiler] as where they're supposed to be.

And that's just the main cast of characters; we're not even counting people like

[spoiler] Aten, who's in jail after betraying Danu Talis, or Anubis, who's plotting to take the throne, or any of the other Elders/humans on Danu Talis [/spoiler].

The funny thing, though, is that each and every one of these people is, in fact, right where they're supposed to be.

Aside from being a dense plotline at this point--Michael Scott is writing about multiple characters in [spoiler] two entirely different timelines [/spoiler]--The Enchantress is also a very dense emotional read.

I've talked about Michael Scott's "fast-slow-slow-fast-slow-slow" pattern in other reviews; with The Enchantress he wraps up the cycle with a novel that delves back into some of the deep questions he's been tackling throughout the series. For example:

-what does it mean to be family? [spoiler] if you ask Sophie and Josh, or Will and Palamedes, it means being willing to make any sacrifice for somebody, regardless of whether there's a blood tie [/spoiler].

-what does it mean to be human? [spoiler] if you ask Dr. Dee or Machiavelli, it means discovering that there's more to life than just reaching your goals or living as long as possible [/spoiler]

-what does it mean to do the right thing? [spoiler] depending on who you ask, it means either following your heart or making the hard decisions [/spoiler].

That's just an example of the deep emotional stuff that Michael Scott asks his readers throughout The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, and that he tries to answer in The Enchantress.